Thanks for your comments. You're certainly correct, using the XML feed is much better. Here's the adapted script:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
###########################################
# pm2irc - Scrape perlmonks.com and post
#          new questions to #pmnewestnodes
###########################################
use strict;
use Bot::BasicBot;
use HTML::TreeBuilder;
use URI::URL;
use CGI qw(a);
use Cache::FileCache;
use HTTP::Request::Common;
use Log::Log4perl qw(:easy);
use POE;
use POE::Component::Client::HTTP;
use XML::Simple;

our $CHANNEL        = "#pm2irc";
our $USER           = "pm2irc";
our $FETCH_INTERVAL = 600;
our $BASE_URL       = "http://perlmonks.com/?node_id=";
                        # RSS feed
our $FETCH_URL      = "${BASE_URL}30175";

Log::Log4perl->easy_init($INFO);

our $cache = new Cache::FileCache({
    namespace  => "pm2irc",
});

my $Bot = Bot::BasicBot->new(
    server   => 'irc.freenode.net',
    channels => [$CHANNEL],
    nick     => $USER,
);

DEBUG "Setting up pm2irc POE components";

POE::Component::Client::HTTP->spawn(
    Alias     => "ua",
    Timeout   => 60,
);

POE::Session->create(
  inline_states => {
    _start     => sub {
         # Wait 20 secs before the first post
      $poe_kernel->delay('http_start', 20);
    },
    http_start => sub {
      DEBUG "Fetching url $FETCH_URL";
      $poe_kernel->post("ua", "request",
          "http_ready", GET $FETCH_URL);
      $poe_kernel->delay('http_start',
                        $FETCH_INTERVAL);
    },
    http_ready => sub {
      DEBUG "http_ready $FETCH_URL";
      my $resp= $_[ARG1]->[0];
      if($resp->is_success()) {
        pm_update($resp->content());
      } else {
        ERROR "Can't fetch $FETCH_URL: ", $resp->message();
      }
    },
  }
);

DEBUG "The dance begins ...";
$Bot->run();

###########################################
sub pm_update {
###########################################
  my($html_text) = @_;

  if(my @nws = latest_news($html_text)) {
      for(@nws) {
          INFO "Sending '$_' to channel";
          $Bot->say(channel => $CHANNEL,
                    body    => "$_",
                   );
      }
  }
}

###########################################
sub latest_news {
###########################################
  my($xml_string) = @_;

  my $max_node;

  my $saved = $cache->get("max-node");
  $saved = 0 unless defined $saved;

  my @aimtext = ();

  my $data = XMLin($xml_string);

  for my $node (@{ $data->{NODE} }) {
      next unless $node->{nodetype};
      next unless $node->{nodetype} =~
          /perlquestion|monkdiscussion/;

      $node->{content} =~ s/\n//g;

      if($node->{node_id} > $saved) {
          INFO "New node $node->{content} ($node->{node_id})";
          unshift @aimtext, "$node->{content} " .
                            "${BASE_URL}$node->{node_id}";
      }

      $max_node = $node->{node_id} if !defined $max_node or
         $max_node < $node->{node_id};
  }

  $cache->set("max-node", $max_node)
      if $saved < $max_node;

  return @aimtext;
}
[download]

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.